


Not Under My Heart

by shouldbeover



Series: Loki [4]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Norse Religion & Lore, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Domestic, Gen, child fic, pre-thor origin story
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-15
Updated: 2017-10-15
Packaged: 2019-01-17 14:58:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,417
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12368196
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shouldbeover/pseuds/shouldbeover
Summary: The night Odin brought the Frost Giant infant to his wife.





	Not Under My Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Polski available: [Nie pod mym sercem](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13342554) by [Regalia1992](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Regalia1992/pseuds/Regalia1992)



She knew before the call came, before the trumpets rang, before Heimdall sounded the opening of the bridge, just as she knew that Odin was injured, but not fatally, and his eye was gone. She was connected to Odin both emotionally and with magic weavings.  Frigga, queen of Asgard and wife of the All-Father, didn’t rush to rise. She assumed that he would go to the healers first before he came to his wife. So she finished dressing, checked to see that Thor was still sleeping peacefully in his cot, and sent for Fulla to pin her hair. Thor had slept through the night from the time he was three days old, through all commotion.

She had just risen to go and greet her people at her husband’s side, when he burst through the door to her room, bloody rag across one eye.

“Frigga! My queen!”

“My king? Why did you not go directly to the healers?”

“No matter! My eye is gone, there is no use mourning.” He held up a hand to stop her protest. “I will go, I will go, to please you, my overprotective wife, but take this first.”

He thrust a bundle at her. She almost dropped it, unsure of what it might be, so casually was it given to her. She unwrapped it cautiously.

A child! A Frost Giant child, blue with red eyes, but still just a baby. The baby had its fist stuffed in its mouth, so far beyond terror and exhaustion it couldn’t even cry, just make desperate little whimpers. She touched its cheek and watched as the skin turned from blue to peach to match her own, the eyes became green, as it took its fist from its mouth to reach for hers. She let it cling to her finger and the whimpers eased.

“Odin,” she whispered, “what have you done?”

“Laufey’s son! I can tell by the markings.”

“You kidnapped his child?” She looked at him in horror.

“Of course not! It was left in the temple, exposed to die. An unwanted bastard; I’m thinking half-breed. Some dalliance with a shape-shifter. Note how it adapts to our touch.”

“Yes,” she murmured. She had begun to unconsciously rock the child, the boy. To Odin he might be a prisoner of war, but he was still an infant, perhaps the same age as her Thor.

“But, Odin, why?” She looked up abruptly, what do you mean to do with him?”

Odin smiled, disturbing with his bandaged eye.

“Laufey may not have wanted him, but he is still his son. He is a prince of Jötunnheim. If Laufey has no other heir in the coming years, imagine our power if we produce him at a crucial time. We could unite the realms!”

Frigga paced in front of her fireplace. She had moved the baby’s head to her shoulder, and felt his cool breath on her neck. “And what do you intend to do with him until then, Odin Borson, All-Father of Asgard? Keep him in a vault with the other trophies of war? Cage him?” She looked at her husband with a mother’s fury.

“Know this, Odin, if you make this child a weapon, raised only to be used, then you will find that the weapon is pointed at you.  And you will be no better than Laufey.”

Chastened, Odin sat heavily on the chaise lounge. He was beginning to regret that he hadn’t gone directly to the healers, as fortification against his wife.

“Then what do you propose we do with it?”

“With him, a baby, not a thing.” She continued to pace and soothe the baby. “This is what I propose, what I want, we will raise this child as our own along with Thor. We will raise him as a prince, prepare him to be a king, and when the time is right you will tell him the truth of his birth. We will raise him with love, to be our emissary, not a weapon.”

“Figga! How can we raise him as our son? Even if we adopt him there will be questions. Where did he come from? Whose child is he? My bastard? Yours?”

She glared at him and rang the bell. Fulla, who must not have gone far, rushed in. “Fulla, fetch me some fresh, warm, goat’s milk, with a little mashed oatmeal. And a drop of mead.” When Fulla had departed, she resumed her where she had left off with husband. “I will go to our hunting lodge for two months. When I return, we will present the child as our own with appropriate fanfare for a second son. There is just enough time passed since Thor was born.

“A shape-shifter you think? I believe so too. He is much too small for a Frost Giant. If he grows accordingly, then there will be no problem. If he does not, well, I can perform some enchantments. I will make sure that he stays locked into this form.” The baby was dozing now, skin pale and unblemished.”

“But Frigga!”

“No, buts, Odin. And remember. You will tell him, before he is grown, before he finds out in some other way. You will let him know that you saved him from death, and that…that he is ours, our beloved son.”

“Beloved?”

She held the baby up slightly. “Of course. He is an innocent babe, Odin. We will learn to love him.”

He smiled at his wife, “Why do I think one of us already does? Alright, my love, I will try. We will do it your way…but if he grows…feral I will not allow him to injure you or Thor.”

“He will not, of that I am sure. And now, my husband, I insist that you see the healers. I sense you are fatigued and battle worn.” She smiled, “Come back to me when you are rested.”

Odin smiled and nodded. “Always looking out for me, my queen.” He looked at the child, “He does have a certain…sweetness. Very well.” He kissed her cheek and took his leave.

Falla returned with the mixture of milk and mash, and Frigga took the bottle. The baby drank eagerly and smiled up at Frigga when he had finished it all. She burped him, and laid him in the cot next to Thor. Thor made a snuffly noise but simply turned towards the new source of warmth and snuggled in. She looked at them together, “I shall name you Loki, my child out of air, of air, as Thor is my child of earth and thunder.

When Odin appeared to his people the next morning Friggga was by his side, but she wore a loose fitting gown and robe that might have been seen as hiding a pregnancy. A day later she went to the hunting lodge citing fatigue with worry for the All-Father’s campaign against the Frost Giants. She took only her two most trusted servants, Fulla and Hlín, and Thor.

The women were sworn to secrecy, and she knew that they would take it to their graves. When Loki was tired or hungry he would revert to his original form, but would quickly transform when soothed by the Asgardian women. However, no matter how much he changed, he kept his black hair, and green eyes, a remnant Frigga thought, of the lost, unknown shape-shifter who had borne him. When he was happy, white skinned and rosy, she passed enchantments to lock his form. She could feel the magic in him, and resolved to teach him, even to guide him in shape-shifting, but she would have to be careful. Once he knew how, she wasn’t sure what would trigger a transformation back into Frost Giant.

She kept one more secret, even from the two women. When Fulla would bring a skein of goat milk and mash for the infant, Frigga would send her away, pour out the milk, or give it to Thor with his dinner—Thor had demanded solid food at three months old—and offer her breast to the Frost Giant child.  “Now you are truly mine,” she whispered as she nursed him. “I will always be your mother, Loki, always remember that, my love,” she murmured as she kissed his forehead and tucked him in next to his older brother. "And Thor, this is your little brother Loki. You must take look after him and care for him all of your lives." Blue eyes and green eyes looked up at her.


End file.
